Pete Hughes deserves a little respect

Yesterday, the all ACC honors were announced for baseball.  Virginia Tech was represented only once for the first team all-ACC team.  Outfielder Austin Wates, a likely first round draft pick in this summer's Major League Baseball draft was the lone Hokie on the team.  Three other Hokies, catcher Steve Domecus, starting pitcher Justin Wright and reliever Ben Rowen made the second team.

The name most noticeably missing from the list was not a player.

No it was Virginia Tech's very own head coach Pete Hughes.

So who was the winner of the ACC coach of the year you might ask?  None other then Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor.

Now I understand O'Connor is a great coach and has really turned the program around at Virginia and kept the team in the top five nationally all season, but I feel that many people are still suffering a bit of a hangover from the Wahoo's trip to Omaha last season.

Hughes has done a remarkable job turning around the program down in Blacksburg.  The team has made the ACC tournament for the first time since 2005.  This also coincides with the teams reentry into the national rankings for the first time since 1992. The Hokies have been ranked for roughly half the season and were as high as #12 prior to a sweep at the hands of North Carolina.

Going into the ACC tournament which begins on Thursday, the Hokies have an overall record of 36-19.  Compared to last season's record of 32-21 and the 2008 season of 23-21, Hughes' determination to turn the program around is greatly visible.

His hope one day is to generate as much excitement over baseball as football and basketball get in Blacksburg.

I truly believe that with a good run in the postseason tournaments this will happen.  After all when I recently talked to Hughes he said the goal of the team was to make it to Omaha.

For now, let's just shoot for winning the ACC tournament and making it to the NCAA regional portion of the tournament.

Then we can focus on Omaha.